Secondhand toy market remains tepid

Most parents might have faced one thorny question: What to do with the toys their children no longer like or have no use for?

The choices for them are limited in most cases: giving the toys away to friends or relatives, or consigning them to the garbage can. Or, they could seek the help of secondhand trading platforms to exchange the no longer needed toys for some hard cash.

A recent Hong Kong Trade Development Council survey showing Chinese parents in eight major cities including Beijing and Shanghai spent on average 2,596 yuan ($3,64.68) on toys for their kids in 2018 signifies the seriousness of the problem and the potential huge amount of waste of resources.

As a saying goes, where there is demand, there is business. Encouraged by Chinese families' increasing expenditure on toys, some secondhand toy trading platforms have been set up in the past few years. Despite the thriving trade in certain secondhand toys, such as a blind box－a collection of toys where customers don't know which specific design they might be receiving, the overall market so far has been languid.

Beibei.com, a leading e-commerce platform specializing in maternal and child products, opened a section for "idle items" on its app home page in 2017 to help facilitate the trading of second-hand items including toys. But the section no longer exists.

Li Zhuoming, chairman of Guangdong Toy Association, says: "Secondhand toy exchanges are mainly conducted on platforms such as Xianyu, a subsidiary of Alibaba, and Baidu Tieba for collection of toys such as garage kit and models."

In recent times, toy rental apps, too, have emerged to help solve the problem of "hoarding" of used toys, which can be expensive.

Wanduoduo, an app floated in 2016, offers parents and their children thousands of toys－professionally disinfected－to rent for 328 yuan per month, according to its website. However, the company's customer service could not be reached for comment.

Li sees parents' concerns about toys' safety as a major barrier to the development of the secondhand toy trading and leasing market. "Toy rental and trading businesses sprung up a dozen or so years ago, but none has stood the test of time. Nowadays, parents usually spare no expenses when it comes to the safety of their children and therefore may not go for used toys," he says.

Kingson Cai, general manager of Alpha Group's Global Product Center, echoes Li's misgivings, saying: "Secondhand toy exchanges could develop into a profitable business, but a mainstream market is unlikely to be formed as parents are largely concerned about the cleanliness and safety of used toys."

As such, the secondhand toy market will develop gradually on several large secondhand exchange platforms such as Xianyu and 58 Tongcheng, Cai says, instead of thriving as an independent and successful business.